1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to wireless communications and, more particularly, relates to a system and method for sending local information from a browser of a wireless communications device to a Web server.
2. Related Art
The advent of wireless personal communications devices has revolutionized the telecommunications industry. Cellular, personal communications services (“PCS”) and other services provide wireless personal communications to businesses and individuals at home, in the office, on the road, and to any other location the wireless network can reach. Wireless telephone subscribers no longer must use public telephones along the road or wait until returning to the home or office to check messages or to return important business calls. Instead, wireless subscribers can carry out day-to-day business from the privacy of an automobile, from a remote job site, while walking along the airport concourse, and anywhere else that a personal communications signal is accessible.
Thus, it is no surprise that since the introduction of the cellular telephone service, the number of wireless telephone subscribers has increased steadily. Today, there are a staggering number of wireless telephone subscribers whose ranks are growing rapidly. In fact, many households have multiple wireless telephones in addition to their conventional land line services.
With a market of this size, there is fierce competition among hardware manufacturers and service providers. In an attempt to lure customers, most providers offer handsets with desirable features or attributes such as small size, light weight, longer battery life, speed dial, and the like. Many recent additions to the marketplace include multi-functional handsets that even provide pocket organizer functions integrated into the wireless handset. Most manufacturers, however, are still scrambling to add new features to their communications devices to snare a portion of this booming market.
One way in which new features are added to wireless communication devices is by integrating the devices into the Web. Such integration allows the countless services available through the Web to be extended to wireless communications devices. Traditional web pages, however, usually contain too much information to be presented on the typically smaller display of a wireless communication device, such as a digital cellular telephone. To address this problem, new Web based programming languages such as the Handheld Device Markup Language (“HDML”) have been developed to serve the wireless market. In serving the wireless market, HDML has evolved and is sometimes called the Wireless Markup Language (“WML”). This language, which will be referred to herein as HDML/WML, is part of a larger standard called the Wireless Application Protocol (“WAP”). WAP is a result of continuous work to define an industry wide standard for developing applications over wireless networks. The WAP forum was formed to create a global wireless protocol specification that works across differing wireless network technology types for adoption by appropriate industry standards bodies.
HDML/WML is a markup language intended for use in specifying content and user interfaces for narrow bandwidth (“narrowband”) devices, including cellular phones, pagers, and personal digital assistants (“PDA”). HDML/WML was designed with the limitations and constraints of these narrowband, small screen devices specifically in mind. Some of these constraints include a smaller display and limited user input facilities, a narrowband network connection and limited memory and computational resources.
Though HDML syntax is similar to HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) syntax, HDML is not a true markup language. It is a set of commands or statements that specifies how a narrowband device interacts with a user. HDML applications display information on the handset display and specify how the handset responds to user input. The text presentation and layout area is tailored to the smaller display area typical to a narrowband device. A “card and deck” organizational structure is used whereby all information is organized into a collection of screen sized cards, each of which specifies a single interaction between the handset and user. A deck contains one or more cards. HDML supports several types of cards, including entry cards, which display a message and allow the user to enter a string of text; choice cards, which display multiple options from which the user can choose one; and display cards, which display information only. Inter-card navigation and linking is supported for managing navigation between cards and decks. String parameterization and state management allow the use of state models to add parameters to decks.
Today, HDML/WML offers an efficient means of providing content and services from the Web infrastructure to wireless handheld devices such as cellular phones, pagers, and PDAs.